Credit Line:
Purchase, Louis V. Bell and Rogers Funds; Anonymous and Robert G. Goelet Gifts; and Gifts of Fenton L. B. Brown and of the grandchildren of Mrs. Ranson Spaford Hooker, in her memory, by exchange, 1982

This is one of a pair of vases given in 1825 by a group of New York merchants to Governor De Witt Clinton of New York for his role in promoting the construction of the Erie Canal. The vase is decorated with a combination of mythological elements and American motifs. On the front, the figures of Mercury (commerce) and Ceres (agriculture) flank a view of the canal's guard lock and basin at Albany; on the back, Hercules (strength) and Minerva (wisdom) are depicted with the aqueduct at Rochester and the falls of the Genesee River.

Inscription: engraved on plaque on front of base: The Merchants of Pearl Street, New York, / TO THE HON. DEWITT CLINTON / Whose claim to the proud Title of "Public Benefactor," / is founded on those magnificent works, / The Northern and Western CANALS.engraved on bottom left corner of plaque: Fletcher & Gardiner Makersengraved on bottom right corner of plaque: Philad[superscript a over "] December 1824